Smiles and things left unsaid

I saw two things that made me smile while walking on campus today.

1. Picture this. A tall man, sunglasses, hat backwards, classic jansport bookbag, looks about 70...on a razor scooter! It was so cute with him gliding along, hunched over this little scooter, pumping away with his left foot. I wanted to stop him and say "good for you! keep riding!" but decided this would be offensive, so I kept walking.

2. Then, a couple feet down the road, there was a man in a business suit, college-aged, carrying a shopping bag and dragging behind him the cutest, puffiest, plumpest little golden retreiver puppy hopping along with the most cheerful tail. This little pup looked very new at the whole walking with a collar and a leash thing. He kept stopping and looking up at the man, like "Um, excuse, what is this around my neck?" But the man couldn't do anything to make him keep walking, because the collar was loose and looked like it was about to come right up over the pup's head if he pulled. So there they were walking and stopping and getting tangled up, trying to negotiate their whole new relationship. Anyway, this made me smile and I wanted to say "Hey, your puppy is so cute! Can I pet him? How old is he?" and many other questions dog owners like to ask. But I decided that the man looked like he was in a rush and probably everyone had stopped him that day to say the exact same thing. So I kept walking.